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Three Strategies for Driving Call Center Customer Satisfaction

/ by ATSG

call-center-agents

We live in an exciting time of rapid digital innovation that has changed the way organizations and customers do business. Call centers have the opportunity to embrace brand new channels and methods of communication with customers and significantly improve their experience. Many of today’s consumers actually expect these ever-increasing options for customer service engagement and will express disappointment in organizations which do not offer them.

There are a few specific metrics which dictate the quality of a customer’s experience when interacting with a call center. Long queues, being transferred between several agents over the course of a single call, and the overall length of the call all are important guideposts for a successful call center interaction. It’s wise to work with an organization to identify and successfully implement new technology to make it easier for your call center to consistently exceed expectations and build a loyal following of customers.  

These increased expectations present incredible opportunities for call center managers to improve the customer’s overall experience. Ultimately the goal of every call center is the same: Consistent efficiency with calls that are kept to a minimum length and leave customers impressed and satisfied with their experience. Adapting to new technology will allow your efficiency to increase in a substantial way while more consistently exceeding callers’ expectations.

Implement the Option of Call Back and Offer Voice Messaging

Generally speaking, one of the worst aspects of calling a customer service hotline is being put on hold for long periods of time. In fact, many customers find the experience so tedious they will abandon the call after just a minute of being put on hold. Forcing customers to wait on hold for excess amounts of time is not just bad for the individual experience and your reputation but it also drives up telecommunication costs.

There are a few easy ways to sidestep the dilemma posed by consumers’ distaste for long wait times. The first is through call back technology. Instead of being glued to their phone, customers are given the option to receive a call as soon as an agent is available. This allows your organization to track the call and the customer’s needs and more accurately assign it to the correct representative.

For less urgent issues, there are even more options to increase the quality of the caller’s experience. The customer could choose to schedule a call back for a later time or date that works with their schedule. For less time-sensitive inquiries, the caller can leave a voicemail for the contact center to process at a less busy time. This is also a great way to handle interactions that do not require any sort of follow-up on your organization’s end, such as calls to report package deliveries or to inform a representative of a resolved issue.

Waiting on hold is frustrating but one other frequently-experienced issue causes an even greater level of chagrin. One of the most dreaded phrases a customer can hear is “Please hold while I transfer you…” Forcing them to start over and re-explain their problem or question with each agent magnifies their frustration. Call back service is a great way to be sure the caller is matched up with a representative that is prepared and knowledgeable enough to address the issue without a transfer.

Provide the Caller With an Interactive Waiting Experience

In our experience with our clients, we see an average of 37 percent of their callers opting to use an automated callback option.  The balance prefer to wait on hold for a representative.  This group who don’t leverage callback presents an excellent opportunity to improve the customer experience the call center provides.   

Depending on the purpose of the call, customers may be willing to wait on hold for a representative. Many times, customers who are experiencing complex or urgent issues are “locked into” completing the call. They will wait on hold for tens of minutes at a time to be directed to the correct agent. Instead of serenading these customers with a monotonous loop of smooth jazz (or even worse, a “please hold” message), engage them while they wait.

The time spent on hold can be utilized to education customers on specific details about your products or services. One great way to accomplish this goal is to allow the caller to search through a library of pre-recorded knowledge-based articles or a menu of frequently asked questions. This alternative to the formerly ubiquitous on-hold music gives something back to your customers while they wait, increasing the likelihood that the customer will leave the interaction satisfied. Providing troubleshooting tips that relate directly to the customer’s issue may even speed up the call once it is answered by an agent.

Empower Your Workforce with Technological Innovations

A crucial element in the success of a call center lies with its employees. If representatives are unhappy, dissatisfied, bored or unknowledgeable, you can count on customers noticing. While corporate culture and the workplace environment are important in keeping employees satisfied, implementing user-friendly, modern technology is an excellent way to empower your workforce. An empowered workforce leads to improved efficiency and lower churn rates, allowing your organization to retain a staff of dedicated and experienced customer-service professionals.

Technological innovations increase efficiency by providing alternative methods to address customer concerns. Mobile user interaction is a popular new advancement in place to address a customer’s needs. More than ever, customers reach call centers via their mobile device or a smartphone. Unlike traditional landlines, mobile technology offers a multitude of interaction options beyond call backs and frequently asked question menus.

Alternative methods of communication include utilizing SMS/text chat with an agent. This relatively new method of communication for contact centers is preferable for a large portion of customers who enjoy the flexibility it offers. Not only is it more flexible for customers, it also frees up representatives to handle multiple text chats at once. Beyond the customer/agent interaction, mobile users can access informative articles, automated tools for troubleshooting issues as well as social media programs which connect them with other customers.  

Conclusion

The modern consumer’s customer-service expectations evolve quickly. In many ways, these ever-changing expectations mirror the rate of telecommunication innovations. Not only do customers have increased expectations of the ways a call center can interact and assist, they are more empowered than ever to share their experiences online.

Industry studies on the impact of social media have shown over 60 percent of consumers are swayed by the comments of others online and over social media, making word-of-mouth more important than ever in building and maintaining a stellar reputation. Unfortunately for companies, negative experiences leave a much greater impact on the customer then positive experiences. In fact, a recent study found people are twice as likely to post comments on social media after a bad experience as they would after a positive one.

Successful organizations are able to exceed customer’s expectations on a consistent basis.

Call back service and voice messaging, interactive queue messaging, and mobile user interaction allow your organization to provide customers with the communication options and customer-service experience they have come to expect. Working with an experienced professional services company to implement these strategies will make it easier for your call center to routinely exceed expectations. This will in turn build customer confidence and loyalty with just a few steps.

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